A variety of broadcast technologies, such as cable and satellite broadcasting, have developed to deliver a wide variety of video products to consumers. Broadcasters commonly transmit thousands of video products over hundreds of channels to consumers. As a result, consumers are frequently presented with a very large spectrum of content which can range from content that is suitable for children to other content that is only appropriate for adult audiences. Discriminating between the various video products in order to avoid objectionable content can be a daunting task.
To assist consumers with navigating such a large spectrum of content, a national content rating system was created to assign a content rating to each video product transmitted by a broadcaster. The content rating includes a content label and an audience label. The content label informs consumers about the type of content, such as violence, nudity, or strong language, contained in a given video product. The audience label indicates a suggested audience for the video product.
Presently, video distributors, such as movie or television studios, determine the content ratings for the video products they produce. The content rating of each video product is then broadcast to the consumer along with the video product. Consumers can program receiving equipment to filter each video product based on the content rating of each video product. For example, a consumer may set his receiver to block all video products that contain violence. The receiver then either blocks or allows each video product based on whether or not the content rating associated with each video product indicates violence.
Consumers are not fully satisfied with the current rating system and the attendant filtering capabilities included with most broadcast receiver systems. To the dissatisfaction of many consumers, content ratings can be very inconsistent. In some cases, consumers simply disagree with the content ratings as determined by the video distributors. Current filtering mechanisms do not allow consumers to account for the vagaries of the present content rating process.
In one problem, distributors may determine and apply a content rating to a video product in view of the sensibilities of a particular consumer group. However, many video products are available to a wide range of consumer groups that have a wide range of sensibilities. While a particular consumer group may agree with a content rating as applied to a video product, other consumer groups may disagree with the content rating.
In one example, a video distributor may produce a video product intended for broadcast within a particular region. The video distributor may rate the video product in view of the general political or cultural sensibilities or tastes of the people in that region. However, the video product might simultaneously or later be broadcast to other regions that do not share the same sensibilities or tastes as the intended region. For instance, one region for which a video product is intended may have less strict cultural sensibilities than another region. A video distributor may assign a lenient rating to a video product in view of the tastes of the intended viewing region. However, the video product could be broadcast to both regions. In such circumstances, the video product may carry a less stringent content rating than would otherwise be assigned if the video product were intended for the other region. As a result, a receiver set to filter video products with more stringent content ratings will allow the video product with the less stringent content rating, even though the content within the video product may be objectionable to viewers in the other region.
In another problem, it is common for video distributors to determine and apply content ratings stringently to video products intended for viewing during the traditional family viewing hour. However, it is also common for video distributors to determine and apply content ratings less stringently to video products intended for later viewing times, such as the traditional adult prime-time viewing hour. Unfortunately, video products that are intended for later viewing hours are frequently available to consumers during earlier times of the day.
In one example, a video product that is intended for viewing during the adult prime-time viewing hour in one time zone may be simultaneously broadcast to viewers in an earlier time zone during their traditional family viewing hour. In another example, a video product that was originally intended for viewing during the adult prime-time viewing hour may be broadcast in syndication during an earlier viewing hour. In each example, the video product may carry a less stringent content rating than would otherwise be assigned if the video product had been intended for viewing during the earlier hour. As a result, a receiver set to filter video products with more stringent content ratings will allow the video product with the less stringent content rating, even though the content within the video product may be objectionable within the context of the earlier viewing hour.
In view of the limitations of current content rating schemes and filtering capabilities, improved filtering is desired.